Airport towers again in jeopardy

Ramona, Brown Field towers could be closed as early as Tuesday

Bob MacHale, facility air traffic manager at the Ramona Airport control tower who works for Serco, the private company that operates the tower, prepares the tower for a day of operations in April 2013.| Howard Lipin /UT San Diego file photo.

Bob MacHale, facility air traffic manager at the Ramona Airport control tower who works for Serco, the private company that operates the tower, prepares the tower for a day of operations in April 2013.| Howard Lipin /UT San Diego file photo.

The potential mothballing is driven by the forced federal budget cuts known as sequestration and the looming federal government shutdown. Sequestration threatened to close 149 contractor-run towers last spring before the Obama administration canceled the plans in the wake of safety concerns and pressure from the aviation industry.

Funding was restored through Sept. 30, which is the end of the 2013 fiscal year.

None of the towers closed. But no long-term funding deal was reached either. Towers at busy metro airports, such as in San Diego or Los Angeles, are not slated to shutdown.

Officials from both the county and city of San Diego said they’re in the dark about when the tower closures at the smaller airports could take place, if they happen this time.

“Nobody knows,” said Mike Tussey, deputy director of airports for San Diego, which oversees Brown Field. “I don’t think anybody knows what they’re going to do in D.C.”

In a prepared statement, San Diego Interim Mayor Todd Gloria said shuttering the tower "would be completely contrary to public safety."

County officials said this week they’re pushing again to keep the Ramona tower open. That facility is especially critical, officials said, because it operates on a base for state and federal firefighting aircraft.

Tragic crash

Last spring, several local pilots and airport officials said that while they would prefer the tower stay open, the structure wasn’t essential to safety in Ramona.

In a phone interview, County Supervisor Dianne Jacob rejected that idea. Jacob said federal officials would be wise to remember the tragic crash that spurred the Ramona tower’s construction.

In 1995, three people were killed after two U.S. Forest Service firefighting aircraft collided over Ramona as they were landing. The county agreed to pay $1.4 million to build a tower at the airport, while the federal government agreed to pay for staffing.

“That was the deal that was made. And now the feds want to break their promise,” said Jacob, who represents East County’s fire-scarred backcountry. “The federal government needs to step up to the plate and put public safety first and figure out the budget second.”

The federal government pays $540,000 annually to operate the Ramona tower and approximately $500,000 per year to operate the Brown Field tower, county and city officials said.

Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees airports and airport towers, said he could not answer specific questions about the fate of the local towers.

He relayed the following FAA statement:

“Congress has not yet approved a budget for FY 2014 so we do not have an update regarding future funding allocations. The Administration continues to urge Congress to act to replace the damaging cuts imposed by the sequester with a balanced approach that reduces the deficit while protecting critical priorities.”